Families Rally At Capitol To Oppose Medicaid Cuts

March 31, 2005
People with disabilities rally at Capitol

‘Save our services’ from proposed Medicaid cuts, crowd urges governor

By Scott Finn
Staff writer

Some parents would lose their children and their homes if the cuts went through, Gattlieb said. The children would end up in foster homes and nursing homes — a much more expensive alternative in the long run.

Disability advocates said the state needs to find other places to cut besides programs that keep people in their homes.

For example, it costs $30 for an ambulance, but only $3 for a cab, yet Medicaid won’t reimburse participants for the cab ride, said David Stewart, chairman of the Fair Shake Network, a disability advocacy group.

Also, some people with disabilities are receiving therapies and services they may not want or need, he said, but state rules make them take everything if they want to get anything.
“We’ve got to figure out ways to cut the waste,” Stewart said.

Another problem is federal Medicaid regulations favor nursing homes over in-home care, Stewart said. But state officials could ask for a waiver, he said. If they’re not careful, lawmakers and state officials could run afoul of several recent court decisions involving people with disabilities. The Olmstead decision from the U.S. Supreme Court requires states to help disabled people stay in the “least restrictive environment,” such as their homes instead of a nursing home.

A recent federal case has an even more direct impact. “Benjamin H.” requires the state to provide services to mentally retarded or developmentally delayed people within 90 days of qualifying. Already, residents are waiting for six months or longer for services, in violation of the court order, Stewart said.

Families rally at Capitol to protest Medicaid cuts

By The Associated Press
Thursday March 31, 2005 Twenty-year-old Eric Gattlieb is blind, autistic, and in fragile health. But Medicaid services for people with disabilities have helped him to live at home with his parents in Sissonville and be active in his synagogue, the YMCA and the community.

His parents, Sam and Ginny Gattlieb, were among more than 100 people with disabilities, family members and advocates to rally at the state Capitol on Wednesday over a state proposal to cut more than $150 million from the state Medicaid program.

"Do not make these devastating changes that will hurt our son and many others like him,'' Sam Gattlieb told the crowd.

Medicaid is a federal-state program that helps pay for health care for the needy, aged, blind, disabled and for low-income families with children. The state's Medicaid program is expected to cost $156 million more than the $2.1 billion budgeted. President Bush is proposing cuts to reduce the deficit, and the state is expected to lose about $36 million during the next budget year because the federal match rate will drop about 1.6 percent. The state has 373,883 children, elderly and disabled people and low-income adults on Medicaid.

West Virginia is considering cutting benefits for 71,207 of those residents, who are considered "optional, or those that the state, not the federal government, has decided should be covered.

But West Virginia's optional population includes people in nursing homes, low-income people with chronic diseases and disabilities and women with breast and cervical cancer.

West Virginia must find other places to cut besides programs that keep people in their homes, disability advocates say. While it costs $3 for a cab compared with $30 for an ambulance, Medicaid won't reimburse participants for the cab ride, said David Stewart, chairman of the Fair Shake Network, a disability advocacy group.

And Stewart said some people with disabilities receive therapies and services they may not want or need, but the state requires them take everything if they want to get anything. "We've got to figure out ways to cut the waste,'' Stewart said.